2018: Post Week 11 NFL Top Five

Week 11 was…something man. What an incredible week of football. We had the Texans keep rolling, the Steelers barely edging the Jags, the Broncos upsetting the Chargers, the Bears extending the gap atop the NFC North and an absolutely absurd Monday Night Football game.

After all that, here’s what my Top Five looks like:

Number Five – New England Patriots and Chicago Bears

Patriots haters, myself included, hear me out. The last time I took the Patriots out of my Top Five, they won six straight. I’m doing us all a favor. With nothing bad happening to the team over the bye week, there’s not a reason to drop them.

But how about the Chicago Bears? I’ve never done a tie for one spot in my history of these Top Five pieces, but I’d be remiss to keep the Bears out.

Trubisky didn’t have his best night against the Vikings and Minny tried all they could to make a late push, but it wasn’t enough to defeat a team who now is sitting pretty with some space on top of the NFC North.

Chicago might be in a trap situation this week. They face the Lions in Detroit in the first Thanksgiving game of the day today, and Trubisky is out. Luckily for the Bears, they’ll have the greatest backup quarterback of all time under center, CHASE DANIEL!

Number Four – Pittsburgh Steelers

I figured Pittsburgh would win much more handily and with a lot less stress than they did over a struggling Jags team, but they won it at the end of the day.

Despite the weaker performance in Week 11, the Steelers have been rolling as of late, and there’s no other team in the AFC North that could realistically knock them off the top at this point.

Pittsburgh might also face a trap game this week. They’ve got the Broncos who just upset the Chargers in LA.

Number Three – Kansas City ChiefsNumber Two – Los Angeles Rams

I’m grouping these two together so I can talk about that absolutely ridiculous Monday Night game. I was worried about how much hype the game was getting and if it could really live up to it all. It did that and more. Here’s three of my takeaways:

1. Nothing surprising happened, and it was awesome

This game was exactly how we expected it was going to be. High offense, little to no defense. Any possession that didn’t end in a score seemed super costly, that’s how deadly both of these offenses are. This game was an absolute war, and it was so fun to watch

2. Patrick Mahomes should take some blame, but the loss wasn’t his fault

It is amazing to me that people are really blaming a Chiefs loss on a guy that threw for 478 yards and six touchdowns. Three interceptions and two lost fumbles hurt his MVP case more than it did the Chiefs in this game.

Yes, a game can certainly be placed on a guy who turned the ball over five times, but Patrick Mahomes doesn’t play defense.

3. The Chiefs are legit

The Rams are legit too, but they’ve got the Saints juggernaut to deal with. Right now, assuming they clinch the top seed, I can’t confidently pick any AFC team to beat the Chiefs.

The Patriots have been really inconsistent, and playing at Arrowhead is much different than playing in Foxborough. The Steelers offense is looking really good, but as we saw in Week 11, they’ve still had plenty of bad weeks. The Chargers are a dark horse, but I don’t think they’re on the Chiefs level.

Number One – New Orleans Saints

Not to be forgotten in the midst of the Monday Night game, the Saints are on a different level. The Eagles are definitely having a Super Bowl hangover this year, but the Saints just absolutely pummeled them.

Drew Brees threw four more touchdowns and had another interception-less game, Tre’Quan Smith reminded the Eagles that Michael Thomas isn’t the only threat in the Saints receiving game and Mark Ingram rushed for 100+ for the second straight week.

As you’re eating your carved up turkey tonight, you’ll have the chance to watch Drew Brees carve up the Falcons secondary.